Brotherly Love
by Jazz-asaurus
Summary: I had this really random idea about Claire having an older Brother who has been serving in the the army. He came home for two weeks and after spending a week with his parents in Dallas goes to visit Claire in Morganville. But how will eveyone react when they find out Claire has a brother? Set after Black Dawn. I don't think there are any spoilers. First FanFic! Xx
1. Chapter 1

Brotherly Love

SPOV

Claire had pushed me out of bed and forced me to get in the shower because she wanted to finally go out and do something seen as Morganville's latest tragedy had happened quite a while ago and the whole town was currently, reasonably calm (for Morganville standards). Not that I had any idea what that girl had in mind, I mean come on; it's Morganville, the home of nothingness. She had just gotten out of the shower and was now getting changed in our bedroom, well I say our bedroom, she still calls it her bedroom and I do have my own bed in another room, but we basically share it.

"Boom, suck on that ass wipe!" Damn, Eve had challenged me to a zombie killing marathon and me being the gentleman that I am, I accepted. Unfortunately for me I was so distracted thinking Claire and our room and our future room in our future house with our future baby and … Wow, slow down there Collins! I had just lost to Eve Rosser and I was more concerned with picking out baby names, what the hell? Did I suddenly grow a pair of boobs during the night or something? Michael concerned as well as he crouched down in front of me and rested the back of his palm against my forehead. The sudden icy cold temperature against my hot panicked one immediately made me slam back to reality.

"Do you think he is coming down with something?" Rosser again, talking about me as if I wasn't in the room.

"I'm not sure, Shane, Shane, earth to Shane, how many fingers am I holding up?" Michael repeated waving four fingers mockingly back and forth in front of my eyes.

I slapped his hand away in annoyance and swung my legs around so I was lying on the couch, "Bite me, Glass."

"I'm serious man, you lost to a girl and didn't even have a come back to the insult, what has happened to you?" Michael questioned, a smirk playing on his lips the entire time.

"Maybe, it's his, time of, the, month" Eve managed to get out between bursts of giggles that were caused as a result of her _hilarious_ joke. Michael joined in the laughter as they both stumbled to the kitchen.

"You might wanna brush up on your skills Collins, especially if you managed to lose to Eve!" Michael shouted behind him as he walked through the kitchen door. The last part being aimed at Eve who gave him a playful swat in return.

Sighing, I took up Michael's advice and practiced my deadly zombie killing moves solo.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer - I do not own Morganville Vampires or any charactors in this story, the fabulous Rachel Caine does, the only things I own are Tom and the story line.**

P.S - Would have done a disclaimer on the previous chapter but didn't really know how...

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SPOV

I must have been shooting at various things for a while because my eyes had started to go weird, the zombies running towards me transformed into rhythmic shapes moving to the beat of my pounding shotgun. It was a miracle that I managed to hear the faint ring of the doorbell. Unconsciously my muscles immediately tensed, it was very rare to have visitors at your door in Morganville, especially friendly ones. Not only was I distracted by the echoing sound that seemed to vibrate through the walls of the Glass house but simultaneously my fingers froze, and the character that represented me on the screen was violently slaughtered.

Maybe I was losing my zombie killing touch. "Brilliant" I grunted to no one in particular as I trudged my way to the door that desperately needed painting. So did the rest of the glass house as a matter of fact, outside and inside, we would do it someday. Maybe I could get a paintbrush out today if Claire ever came downstairs so we could finally go wherever she was thinking of going in Nowheresville. I was pulled out of my pondering – and Eve said I never used my brain! – when I reached the door. After briefly both mentally and physically preparing myself for whatever Morganville had to throw at me this time, I heaved the door open in one big sweeping action.

It took my misleading eyes a few seconds to adjust to the blazing sun of mid-day Texas. Gradually a pair of rusty brown combat boots came into my vision. As my eyes ascended I found that they connected to a well-built man covered in camouflage material. I investigated him for a while with my eyes; he was a bit taller than me, had light green eyes and very short dark brown hair that was barely visible under the army cap that rested on his head. He reminded me of this guy I saw in a dance movie with Claire, oh what was it; it had Anne fletcher in it, er, Step up! That was it, yeah he looked that guy.

What was the guy out of step up doing at _my_ house? I'm guessing he is in the army, cos' of the camouflage and the combat boots and all and don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for the army, out there, fighting for us. At one point I was considering joining, you know, to get back at the world for Lyssa and Mom's deaths, but it wasn't right, I was only doing it to get away.

"Err, hi." Oh yeah, I forgot he was standing at the door.

"Yeah?" I questioned, he might be in the army but I wasn't in the mood for anyone pissing me around today.

"I was wondering if Claire was here," my muscles immediately tensed again, Claire? What did he want that had to do with Claire? "Claire Danvers, I think she lives here?"

"Oh yeah, who's asking?"

I could see him mutter something inaudible under his breath, this guy really wasn't making a good impression. He extended his arm after a moment's hesitation, "I'm Tom, Tom Da-".

"Ahhhhh!" Tom, _supposedly_, was cut off mid-sentence by a high pitch squealing sound coming from behind me. I instantly turned around – a scream was never good news in Morganville – to find my beautiful Claire with eyes as wide as an anime character and a mouth as big as a tunnel opening for a nearby train. My eyes hurriedly scanned up and down here body, as if routine, in search of any misplaced stakes or bullet holes. It took a few seconds before I realised that injury wasn't the cause of the searing scream, but ecstatic happiness.

TPOV

I was frozen in a trance, my eyes locked onto my baby sister's. When had she become a woman? How had she become so beautiful? I knew Mom was pretty as a kid but my little sister was gorgeous.

It had been three years. Three years since I left for Afghanistan, a place with so much hatred and so much violence, that I thought I could never forget. Yet somehow, by looking into those pure hazel eyes I found myself full of love. Not only had all feels of hatred vanished, but they were replaced with memories, fond memories of love and generosity that my sister had once given me and I had cherished forever.

I sensed movement as my sister came towards me, she moved as beautifully as she looked. Lightly dancing down the steps on tiptoes then leaping into my arms ever so gracefully. Her legs around my waist and her arms tangled around my neck, she squeezed tightly. I squeezed back in response, I held onto her as if I would never let go.

The constant squealing slowly died down and was replaced by gentle whimpers. Using one hand to support her light weight, I used my other to tilt her head out of my neck and to face me. A single, silent tear rolled down her rosy check. I cupped her check with my hand and wiped away the precious tear. "Shhh." I whispered in her ear to comfort her, the way I always did was she was younger. When the other kids picked on her at school and she came running home crying the entire time, into her big brothers comforting arms. And I held her, as I did now, I held her as she wept away, I listened to her as she poured out every single detail and I comforted her by telling her it was all going to be all right.

"I missed you." She whispered in my ear, like it was our little secret.

"I love you." I whispered back. She replied with a delicate yet oh so powerful smile that managed to reach inside me and shower my heart with warmth. I slid her down my body so she gradually regained contact with the earth and pressed my benevolent lips to her forehead.

God I missed her.

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**(A.N) I just wanted to thank everyone for the lovely reviews, I really appreciate them!**

**Please review to tell me if you liked this chapter, I am a bit worried as it is a bit different to the previous one.**


	3. Chapter 3

SPOV

What the hell? Why is Claire making such a big deal out of this guy? I mean sure, I knew she had a crush on that step up guy. Eve noticed Claire staring at him on the screen when we brought the film home and watched it together. We all teased her about it even though she denied the crush. I didn't really mind, I had to admit, that Jenna Dewan was pretty hot in the film too! But I wouldn't run up to some random girl who looked like her and squeeze the death out of her.

I couldn't help but notice how close Claire was to the stranger, her arms tangled around his neck and her legs tightly wrapped around his waist. There wasn't a gap of air between them in sight. Who the hell is this guy? And why is he so close to my Claire? I could feel my heart pumping faster and faster, I could smell the sweat beginning to drip off my forehead, I could taste the heat building up in my mouth, I could see how close he was getting to MY Claire, I tried to focus my hearing towards them to understand the muffles and it was then that I sensed someone talking, someone addressing me.

MPOV

Eve and I were finally enjoying some _alone time_ in my bedroom when we heard a muffled squeal from downstairs. Well, more like I heard a piercing scream coming from the hall that had enough volume to sound like someone was screaming right into my ear, and Eve heard nothing. I had to push her away. She looked a little hurt at first but after I explained to her that I heard something downstairs, the expression vanished instantly and an anxious one replaced it. A scream was never good, especially in Morganville.

I rushed down the stairs vampire speed, Eve struggling to keep up behind me as I followed the shriek. As I walked – to let Eve catch up – I allowed myself to partly relax when I noticed I did not smell any spilt blood. Something that was rudely invading my senses however, was a raging heartbeat. As I turned the corner to the hallway I realised the intruder was Shane. What an earth was wrong with him? Why was his heart beating so fast? I approached quickly and tried to get his attention.

"Shane?" No reply… "Shane? What's wrong?" Still nothing. But there was obviously something up with him and I needed to know what, rapidly before my vampire instincts got the better of me. I could never forgive myself if I was to hurt my best mate.

"Shane!" I yelled this time, pushing him lightly in the shoulder. "Shane, what the hell man!?"

Finally, I got a reaction out of him, not a lot though. He turned to face me with an expression of anger plastered to his face. I was really confused and then I noticed Eve pointing out the door as she questioned what she saw.

"Michael, who's that?"

EPOV

When I caught up with Michael he was already talking to Shane. And I mean that literally, he was talking to Shane, but not getting much of a conversation back out of him. It wasn't until I got a little closer that I realised why. Shane was angry, and I mean like mega angry, like the time when I _accidently _broke one of his video games. I attempted a different approach to Michael to get a reply from Shane and followed the path that his rapidly increasing in rage eyes shone. Turns out he was staring at Claire and some guy, obviously jealous, God that boy needs to learn to not get jealous so easily, it was probably just some friend from school or something. But then I realised how close they were, they were practically one, weird, double bodied alien thing, oh wow, that sounds like something Myrnin would keep in his closet!

I pointed at Myrnin's creature to get Michaels attention and asked, "Michael, who's that?" to see if he recognised the guy.

He followed my point and I saw the same thoughts I had just experienced run through his head. Both Shane and I focused once again on Claire and the mysterious guy. I couldn't really see him behind the barrier of Claire who seemed to have exploded on him in every direction, but I could tell he was wearing an army uniform. I don't recall Claire ever saying anything about anyone she knew in the army at all. I don't think she had told Shane either, the anger in his face was tightening and his fists clenched, he had defiantly made up his mind who the guy was and it wasn't going to result positively.

"Michael," Shane growled through gritted teeth, "What are they saying?"

"Err, I, err, don't know."

"Michael, I know you can hear them, what are they saying?" He was beginning to frighten me now; this was defiantly beyond 'braking of video games' anger. This was scary.

"Err, Claire just said 'I missed you'"

"And?"

"And the guy said. I, Love you."

That was the breaking point. It's that moment in films where the music that has been tensely building up tempo and volume then all of a sudden dies, and all you are left with is eerie silence and then they snap. I swear if someone had been recording Shane's face the entire time and slowed it down by like triple, they would have been able to see the moment that Shane's eyes changed from anger to what they were now, the eyes of a predator, about to pounce on his prey.

And pounce he did.

Michael saw it coming a mile off and slammed Shane backwards into the open front door, not hard enough to do any permanent damage, but enough to get his attention. "What the hell man, you heard what he said, you heard it with you own ears, you can't deny that!"

I could see that Michael was gunna need some help, so I jumped in. "Look Shane," I spoke clearly while staring hard into his eyes so he understood every word, "I know it's easy to jump to conclusions, but maybe he is just a family friend or something, you know?"

I didn't get a reply for a while; he just stared at me, processing what I said I presume. Finally his eyes calmed, his muscles relaxed and he looked genuinely calmer.

"You're right, sorry Mikey"

"It's alright man."

That would have been it, Claire and the guy, whoever he was, could have come inside and explained what was going on and we could of all had a conversation like civilized adults. But it's Morganville, of course that didn't happen.

He kissed her.

The guy I mean, he kissed Claire. Only on the forehead, but it was enough to push Shane over the edge again. And there was no stopping him this time.

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**(A.N) Thanks again for all the lovely reviews, they really put a simle on my face!**

**And I know some people wanted Claire's POV and it isn't in this chapter, but I swear you will have some CPOV in the next chapter ... if you review. ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

SPOV

He kissed her.

He kissed her the way only I was allowed to kiss her. I couldn't control myself any longer, I didn't want to. I just let my instincts take over and did what came naturally. I attacked.

CPOV

I snuggled back into Tom's warm chest as he lightly kissed me on my forehead. Almost the way that Shane would when I was upset, but mostly like when I was younger. I have always been bullied, even when I was a little kid and my big brother was always there for me, he always managed to cheer be up with an equilibrium of hugging, listening and tickling.

Taking a deep breath to compose myself, I gently peeled my body out of my Brother's enclosed arms, ready to face the three housemates that in the back of my mind I realised had come downstairs and were currently standing in the doorway with expressions of confusion. My judgements, as rare as this is, were wrong. There were only two housemates standing in the doorway with a jungle of expressions in their eyes and one angry, approaching one.

Shane

Why was he so angry? Why was he coming towards me with massive strides and anger in his eyes? And why was he giving Tom the worst death glare I think I had ever seen in all my years of terrorisation?

I watched on the side-lines as he approached, stopping only when he was half a metre away from Tom. Never before had I seen him so angry, it was frightening. I was so overflown with all the emotions I had experienced within the past five minutes that I was completely frozen in my own little world and I couldn't do anything when I saw Shanes fists clench, his hand lifted so it was level with his shoulder, his muscles tightened and his fist – as if in slow motion – gradually made contact with my brother's jaw.

Because of the shocked expression on my brother's face that was soon concealed by a hand to the spot he had been hit, and the few steps he had taken backwards, I could tell that Shane had caught my brother off guard. He may have been surprised but I knew from past experiences that he was more than willing to through the punch right back at Shane with double the affect. In the past it wouldn't have mattered, I wouldn't have liked whoever was attacking my brother, I probably wanted them to get knocked out, but this time it was Shane at the other end, this time it mattered. Instantly I knew I had to do something, anything to stop them from fighting. But I couldn't, I couldn't move. It was as if I was trapped inside a solid metal bubble; there was no way of getting out. I screamed in frustration and earned the attention of Shane, whose eyes instantly softened at the sight of me, the warmth in those ever-loving eyes melted the bubble around me and I was free.

Charging forwards, I squeezed myself in-between the two men I loved with all my heart. After a few moments they realised an obstruction within their fight and they both, simultaneously looked down at me.

"Stop" I pleaded, it was meant to come out powerful but my throat was dry so it came out with as a dry, raspy sound.

"Stop" I repeated, I was beginning to break down and this time it came out as a pathetic squeak.

Throughout all this time, all the changing emotions, there was one that stuck with me, confusion. But it became blatantly clear to me with the next four words that came out of Shane's mouth.

"He kissed you Claire."

I looked at him through watering eyes and I could only make out the basic outline of his silhouette, "He's my brother Shane."

Then I blacked out.

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**(A.N) Thanks again for all the lovely reviews. Sorry I was a little later with updating but I've been busy with school work. **

**Anyway, I was wondering what you guys thought should happen next? I'm a little stuck and would love to here some of you thoughts, so put them in a comment or PM me. **


	5. Chapter 5

SPOV

What?

Had she just said what I thought she said? I couldn't contemplate anything. The whole world had stopped, time, emotions and life had frozen in place as if God had pressed pause. The only thing I could identify was the repeating remark, "He's my brother Shane." Round and round my head, I tried to understand the words but I couldn't, it was as if Claire had spoken them in a different language, one of those weird languages she learnt at the lab. "He's my brother Shane." It didn't make sense, Claire didn't have a brother, she was an only child, I mean I don't think I actually ever asked her but she would have told me, you can't know someone for, what, like a year now, and not know that they have siblings. She knows everything about me, even the things I am ashamed of, the things I wish_ I _could forget.

Vaguely I heard Eve scream in the background but I barely heard it over the scream, "He's my brother Shane." Claire collapsed but Tom swooped down to catch her before she came into contact with the harsh concrete, I did nothing. He picked her up and walked past me, I turned around but said nothing. Eve rushed off to get water as Tom instructed her whilst Michael paced, I stood there, watching, but I didn't _see__, _the only things visible to me were the four words, "He's my brother Shane" that kept flashing in front of my eyes. I sealed my eyes tightly in the hopes of improving my sight, it only made things worse, the flashing lights grew and the screaming in my ear amplified. "He's my brother Shane." I tried to seal off my ears with my hands and I shouted random rambles to overpower the tormenting screech, "He's my brother Shane." "He's my brother Shane." "He's my brother Shane."

Then it all became clear, "He's my brother Shane" the voice spoke with clarity but kindness. I understood.

CPOV

I felt light, as if I was a balloon pumped full of helium. Floating around in the big open sky with nothing but air, blue sky and fluffy clouds around me. In the distance I saw a variety of colours, it must be a rainbow! But this rainbow was moving, approaching me quickly. It was a rainbow of birds flying towards me in the form of an arrow. They swopped, ducked and dived around me. Then they started to dance while the clouds played the music. An unpleasant feeling shot through me like lightning but I ignored it, I was too engrossed in the pleasant show that the sky was putting on for me. I tapped my foot to the light beat of the music and hummed along to the tune, it was a nursery rhyme that my Dad used to sing to me when I was little. Yet again the sickly feeling struck but I persisted in focusing all my attention towards the captivating performance. The birds had invited me to join in so I did, dancing around as I did when I was a child, laughing when the golden pheasant fell over. The sensation was overwhelming this time. The music came to a screeching stop and the birds stopped dancing.

They were falling.

With me.

I was falling.

My ears were filled with noise again, not with the pleasant nursery rhyme, but with squawks and cackles produced from the no longer so seemingly friendly birds. I began to understand what they were saying. One black one with extravagant feathers and a rice powder white face came up close to me, its face inches away from mine.

"Claire, Claire!" It repeated my name with a strangely human sounding voice. The sensation of falling became apparent again as I grew panicked. I started to flush beet red and I could feel beads of sweat running down my forehead and palms. Worriedly I whipped my head from side to side to see how close I was to the ground. I regretted it instantly. All that lay below me was ice cold sea, for miles and miles, there was no way of escaping it.

The black bird flew right up to my face again, waving its wings rapidly. Slapping me in the face in the process. "Help!" It seemed only natural to scream it; unfortunately for me there was no one around _to_ help.

"Wake up Claire. You must wake up!"

The bird kept saying, but it wasn't moving its beak. I wasn't aware that birds could through their voices? Wait, did it say that I had to wake up? That this was only a dream? I had to wake up, or I would die!

I remembered that Shane always said that when you have a bad dream you should pinch yourself to wake up. I tried, it didn't work. Then I thought of Myrnin, he was always getting himself into weird situations, what would he do? Think Claire, think!

I aimed to focus all my energy into waking up. I thought about all the great things in life, all the things I could never loss. My family, I had to live for them, especially my dad. The only reason him and mom weren't still in Morganville was because of the illness he was diagnosed with, mom said he had been improving but I didn't trust her, both mom and dad were always shielding me from everything. My best friends Michael and Eve, they meant the world to me, always there for me through thick and thin. And then there was Shane, the love-of-my-life Shane, the Shane that would one day put a ring on my finger. I needed him in my life and he needed me, we were a team.

I pictured Shane's gorgeous face in my head, the way his shaggy brown hair managed to look untamed yet perfect, the way his chocolate brown eyes managed to melt my heart and make me go weak at the knees, the way his smile was contagious and his kisses tasted of deep spices.

Then I saw Eve. Eve? Why Eve? Her face seemed distorted with all the wrong shapes and angles. It was as if she was looking over me, her hair tickling my face and neck where it fell. She reminded me of the black bird with the extravagant feathers from earlier. Her mouth seemed to open and close but all that came out were incoherent, blurred echoes.

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**(A.N) - Thanks for all the ideas you guys sent me, it's really interesting to here from you! Xx**

**Anymore thoughts, suggestions, queries? Don't hesitate to ask. **


	6. Chapter 6

CPOV

After a while my ears adjusted and the noises translated into words. Eve was telling me to wake up, but I didn't want to. Everything had turned into a spiral of colours and my mouth felt unbelievably dry. I swallowed several times to try to hydrate my throat just a little – no luck.

"Water" I croaked out through a throbbing throat.

"Here, I got some earlier," Eve said in her comforting voice whilst pressing a cool pint glass filled with transparent liquid into my sweated-out palms.

Grateful for the cooling fluid that cleansed my throat, I sighed and temporarily closed my eyes, allowing my body to reach full recovery. After a few moments rest everything was back to normal. I felt sick of lying on the coach so I sat up and looked around, it was strange, I felt normal now but I had no idea why I felt terrible just a moment ago.

"What happened?" I questioned Eve.

"You don't remember?"

I didn't, "No," I tried to think back to my last memories, "the last thing I remember is getting changed because Shane and I are going out today. We're going to see that new movie, God what time is it?" I glanced down at my watch and realised the showing began in ten minutes. "Oh no, we've got to get going, where's Shane?" I asked Eve, even though I had already partly dismissed her and had stood up to go and find my boyfriend.

Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw something, turning my head to see I realised that on Michael's old armchair sat my Brother. Tom. Fully kitted out in camouflage material and combat boots. An overwhelming feeling of happiness swept over me, I had missed him so dearly and I couldn't believe he was sitting right in front of me. It wasn't until I allowed my brain to process what was happening, or more importantly what _had_ happened, that I realised what he was doing here. A flood of memories came back to me and it was almost too much to take in at once; going downstairs, seeing Tom, hugging Tom, talking to Tom, telling my friends about Tom – wait, that didn't happen, I never got to introduce them, why? Because of Shane. He punched Tom. How could he do such a thing, how could he hurt my brother, why?

I shut the painful memories out and turned to face Shane who was slumped against the furthest wall, with a face of guilt looking at the floor. "Shane," I whispered, "what did you do?"

"I'm sorry Claire, I just-"

"Why would you punch my brother?" My voice now rising in volume to above normal.

"I thought, I thought-" Shane stammered.

"You thought what Shane?" I was now nearly shouting and I became aware of the other housemates watching me with wide eyes, they probably had never heard my voice so loud before.

"I, I'm sorry." His voice was barely audible anymore, the complete opposite to mine and if I hadn't of been standing so close I would not of heard his pathetic apology.

"You thought I was cheating on you didn't you? Why can't you trust me Shane?" It came out powerful, the way I needed it to, I needed to show him that I can be dominant, I can stand up for myself, but also that I was angry and hurt. How could he not trust me? I have been loyal to him for nearly a year, I love him with all my heart and yet he can't trust me, what sort of a relationship is that?

I needed to get out of the house as soon as possible, get some air so I could think straight, the oxygen in the glass has seemed to be in low supply and I was finding it hard to breath. I turned my head briefly to share a look with my brother that told him exactly what to do and left, leaving the door open for him to follow.

"Claire, wait up." I heard Tom call after me as I stormed up the side-walk. I didn't stop for I while, it felt better to keep moving, but as soon as we were out of site from the glass house – out of site from Shane – I broke down and cried into Tom's warm chest.

TPOV

Once Claire was all cried out I suggested coffee, I'm sure she could use some and I'm damn sure I could. She said that there was a place called Common Grounds not far away, so we walked there side by side while I tried to work out in my head what had just happened.

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**(A.N) - Sorry for the lack of updates, from now on I have set myself the target of updating at least once a week. Xx**


	7. Chapter 7

TPOV

"Mocha please." Claire told me before going to find a table for us to sit at; she sounded defeated but was putting on a brave face. That's my girl, so strong.

When the person in front of me in the queue moved it allowed me a clearer view of the counter and, unfortunately, a clearer view of the barista. My use of the adverb 'unfortunately' can be explained by the look on the bartenders face, as well as the rest of his appearance to be honest. His skin had the colour of that of snow white but with a slight, nasty tinge of raw umber. I'm guessing sunbathing isn't one of his hobbies. His lack of wrinkles in forced my hypothesis, although the hippie attire that smothered him head to toe suggested he spent a lot of time at festivals, dancing, drinking and who knows what sort of drugs he had been taking in order to achieve that kind of eye colour. Pure crimson.

As he turned away from the previous customer to face me the colour in his eyes immediately dulled and resumed – thankfully – a more human shade. His grumpy mood however, did not change.

"Hi," he nodded his head, okay… "Err, can I have one mocha and one latte please."

"Sure." He replied but didn't actually move, excuse me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression that the person behind the counter normally makes the drinks. But he didn't do anything except stare at me. Weird.

It seemed like an (awkward) eternity before his eyes left mine, abandoning the suspicious shimmer and he moved slightly so he faced the coffee machine. "So, you knew to Morganville?" His back addressed me.

"I guess, I mean I'm just visiting."

"Oh, I see." I swear I heard a trace of amusement in his voice and even when he turned around I thought I saw a slight smirk, but at second glance it vanished without a trace. What was funny about that?

He placed two mugs down in front of me, one filled with a much darker liquid than the other and stared straight back into my eyes. "How much?" I asked, this was getting weirder by the second and I wanted to end our _polite_ conversation as soon as possible.

"Oh, don't worry about it, this one's on the house. Who you visiting?"

"My sister and thanks." Although my words kind I said them as quickly as possible with an unintended sharp edge, I really didn't like this guy, he was way too creepy.

Picking up the drinks with a little too much force I turned my back on the hippie creep and searched the coffee shop for Claire. She sat at the edge at a two-seater table just out of reach from the sunlight that came blazing in through all the widows. Even though the blistering sun shone so brightly, only just over half of Common Grounds was coated in its golden warmth, the remainder was left in ice cold darkness. This was where Claire sat. Although as I approached the table it became clear that on my side of the table, the sun made its presence felt.

"Sorry, I forgot, you probably don't have a lot of money on you; did you have enough money to pay Oliver?" Claire questioned in a panicked voice, perhaps she wasn't too keen on the hippie either, not that I blame her.

Oliver seemed like such a bland name for someone with such a confused wardrobe. "Oh don't worry; he gave them to me for free." I said as if it happened every day, but from the startled reaction I got from Claire I guess it didn't.

"He gave it to you for free?!" Claire asked although it came out as move of a hilarious statement, hilarious to her anyway. She broke down into fits of laughter slamming her hand repeatedly on the table. "What's next, Myrnin acting sane?" This also seemed like a comical scenario to her, although it was just confusing to me.

"Who?"

"Oh, don't worry," the laughter started to die down now, "it's just Oliver isn't exactly the type of guy to give away freebies."

I glanced briefly over to the counter that I had been standing by moments ago but regretted doing so immediately. Burning holes into my eyes stood Oliver, staring at me as if I was the most complicated Sudoku puzzle in the word. "Yeah, he doesn't come across as the most charming of fellows."

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**(A.N) - Hey, hey. Two things to tell you guys, number one, I have been reading through reviews and I am very grateful for every single one but I have noticed that they all seen really nice - no criticism - and I know there must be things that I can improve on, so even if you are new to this story please feel free to point out things you don't like or how I can improve my writing. I can't do it without you!**

**Secondly, obviously I am a real person and so are all you guys and I know you all have lives out of fanfiction so I thought I would start up this thing called 'Question of the chapter', where I will ask a question at the end of each chapter relating to something I have done and then you can answer it in your reviews. I think this could be a great way for us to get to know each other better, not just me and you, but everyone in the world of fanfic. **

**So, I went to watch a theatre production called 'Starlight express' recently. It is about a boy who plays with his train set, but the really call thing about it is the fact that it is all on roller skates. The skating way amazing! **

**So the question of the chapter is ...**

**What has been your favourite theatre production? Or if you have never been to the theatre, what would you like to see?**


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